While observers of the high school sports scene would normally be thinking in terms of baseball, softball, and other spring sports in April, several Green-Banner Publications area athletes participated in the Hoosier Basketball Coaches’ Association (HBCA) Girls’ and Boys’ All Star Games Saturday at Tecumseh High School. In both games, an East Squad played a West Squad. All local GBP area athletes were on the East Squad.
The girls’ team had three representatives from North Harrison on the East squad, Wynn Shroyer, Kayla Lambert, and Kacey Cox.
The boys’ team had three representatives, Gunner Erwin of Salem, Chris Beam of Borden, and Spencer Robinson of Silver Creek.
The East girls’ lost a 73-72 squeaker to the West, but it wasn’t over until the very end. Kacey Cox was fouled on a three point attempt with 4.7 seconds left, but missed the shot. Since she was fouled on a three point attempt, she got three free throw attempts. She proceeded to sink all three of them, but the West refused to turn over the ball on the ensuing possession.
The West boys’ took a wide lead late in the 1st half and kept up the pressure in their 112-100 win over the East boys’ squad.Girls’ -
West 73, East 72 - The three players from North Harrison and several other nearby schools (like Meghan Bussabarger from Corydon) made a noticeable impact, and in fact North Harrison’s Cox and Lambert and Corydon’s Bussabarger started the game.
Bussabarger got the team off to a good start (3-0) with a three at 19:22, just seconds into the game. The three North Harrison players kept the East close when they scored for the team following Bussabarger. Lambert scored a basket 18:07), and was fouled, but she missed the free throw that went with it. Cox scored on a trey (16:46) and Shroyer followed up with a trey (15:21) to get the East team within 12-11.
Katie Gahimer (North Decatur) gave the East squad a 17-16 lead with two straight baskets, the second of them being a three point goal.
Minutes later, Bussabarger gave the East a 23-20 lead with a basket at the 9:10 mark. As time ran down in the 1st half, Shroyer got into the action once more, giving an assist to Jac-Cen-Del’s Valerie Wagner, and then scoring a basket of her own (2:49). This kept the East team within striking distance, with the West still leading 37-27 after the basket. Shroyer was credited with another assist just seconds later, this time North Decatur’s Katie Gahimer being the recipient. The West led 37-29 after the Gahimer score, and led 40-29 at the half.
In the 2nd half, a little over a minute into the action, Cox found Lambert open and dished out an assist, with Lambert getting her team within 43-32 (18:52).
Bussabarger right after that, and Lambert connected on a three (17:33) to get the East within 43-37. Lambert hit the second of two free throws (16:51), and Bussabarger hit again (16:02) to get the East within three points of the West, at 43-40.
This was as close as the East would be for awhile, as they were unable to capitalize on any opportunities.
Lambert scored again (12:28) off of an assist from Cox, and Bussabarger got the East within three again at 57-54 when she scored (11:34).
South Central product Megan Sherrard scored one of a pair of charity tosses when she connected with 8:44 left in the game.
Shroyer, Lambert, and Bussabarger also scored lone free throws for the East in succession, each missing one of the two. By this time the East was only three points behind, with 3:59 left in the game. Bussabarger scored a from the field (3:11) to get the East within 66-64, and after the West went up 70-64, Shroyer scored (42.4 seconds) on an old fashioned three point play with a diving basket, was fouled, and fell down on the ground. She managed the free throw and the West was ahead only 70-67 at this point.
The West scored once again and went up 73-67, but Bussabarger scored the last of her 16 points with a basket with 16 seconds left, and with 4.7 seconds left in the game, Cox was fouled shooting a three point goal. She missed the basket, but sank all three free throw attempts to get the East to within 73-72.
The West held onto the ball to seal the win.
Shroyer thought playing alongside two fellow North Harrison teammates and other players she normally plays against (Bussabarger and Sherrard) was fun, but also an advantage, with the familiarity factor.
“If you played them before, you know what they’re capable of doing,” she said. “It was fun, and a good experience.”
“It was fun playing with different people,” said Lambert.Girls’ Scoring -West 73 - Chelsea Benham 4, Heather Gonser 10, Nickole Gonser 10, Kendra Heeke 1, Amanda Hopf 0, Brooke Owens 15, Tess Rudolph 19, Chrissy Stieler 2, Nicloe Young 7, Lauren Zeabart 6.East 72 - Meghan Bussabarger 16, Kacey Cox 6, Katie Gahimer 11, Kristian Hicks 3, Kayla Lambert 11, Megan Sherrard 1, Wynn Shroyer 9, Shannon Van Horn 6, Valerie Wagner 9.Boys’ -
West 112, East 100 -
The boys’ East squad fell behind by 22 at the half (63-41), but the East squad started off well enough.
Salem’s Gunner Erwin gave the East leads of 7-3 and 12-10 with baskets in the early going, but one of the three area boys’ players, Borden’s Chris Beam, was injured with 12:49 in the 1st half. He was bleeding from a gash to the head, and had to leave the game. He returned to action in the 2nd half, however.
Beam connected with a basket at the 14:51 mark to cut the West margin over the East to 73-56, and Erwin scored on a dunk 15 seconds later, getting the East to 73-58.
In the midway stretch of the 2nd half, Silver Creek’s Spencer Robinson scored three points, on a free throw and a field goal, with a three pointer by Beam sandwiched in between.
By this point, the West lead had been trimmed to 79-67, but the lead started to climb up again, although it remained in the 10 point range the rest of the game.
Erwin scored a point on a single free throw (2:41), and Beam scored with 1:02 left, to round out the scoring of the local players.
Robinson played with several East team mates on his AAU teams over the years, so he knew what they were capable of doing.
“We came back,” Robinson said. “The shots didn’t seem to drop at the end.”
Beam echoed what Robinson said about playing with the other players on AAU teams.
“It’s the best of the best around here,” Beam said of the squads.
Erwin said there was a lot of pride lying on the line when the East team went into the locker room at halftime, down 22 points (63-41).
“You’re supposed to have fun, so we came out and got after it,” Erwin said. “We didn’t want to get embarrassed.”Boys’ Scoring -
West 112 - Wade Collins 3, Ethan Knepp 4, Charlie Gonzales 12, Kyle Mangold 5, Thomas Nugent 23, Kreig Oxley 17, Cody Osmon, 9, Ryan Ploetz 10, Gavin Thompson 8, Trev Wilgus 21.
East 100 - Blaze Ayers 12, Chris Beam 8, Gunner Erwin 14, Evan Johnson 7, Brett Martin 19, Sean Powell 10, Spencer Robinson 15, Blake Sutton 11, Tyler Theising 4.